Florida’s 2026 schedule already has a few early readouts, and Week Two offered a mixed bag for the Gators’ future opponents. Some teams kept rolling, some had to grind through tight spots, and a few looked a lot shakier than expected.
Auburn, which Florida visits to open conference play, took care of business against Southern Miss. The Tigers put up 43 points, piled up 610 yards and held Southern Miss to just eight points.
Byrum Brown looked sharper than he did in the opener against Baylor, going 17-for-28 for 223 yards and two touchdowns while adding 88 rushing yards on 13 carries. Auburn’s defense also showed up, sacking the Southern Miss quarterback four times and picking off two passes.
Missouri’s trip west for the Border War ended with a 17-point win over Kansas, fueled by a strong second half that brought 24 points. The Tigers got big days from several key pieces: Austin Simmons, a former Florida commit, threw for 292 yards and three touchdowns; Jamal Roberts ran for 125 yards and a score; Donovan Olugbode caught six passes for 121 yards and a touchdown; and Cayden Lee added six receptions for 120 yards and a touchdown. Missouri’s defense kept Kansas in check, limiting the Jayhawks to 174 passing yards on under 50 percent completions and 81 rushing yards on 36 carries.
South Carolina had little trouble with Towson, winning by 36 points, and the story was the ground game. Eight different players recorded a carry, and the Gamecocks finished with 405 rushing yards and four touchdowns on the ground.
Matt Fuller and LaNorris Sellers led the way, each topping 100 yards rushing. Fuller had 125 yards and a touchdown, while Sellers ran for 119 yards and a score.
Texas delivered the kind of comeback that can change a game in a hurry. After falling behind 23-3, the Longhorns rallied past Ohio State in Austin. They scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, and Arch Manning guided the winning drive before Hollywood Smothers punched in a one-yard touchdown with 25 seconds left.
Georgia also handled its business, and then some, against Western Kentucky. The Bulldogs rolled up 493 total yards, with 259 through the air and 234 on the ground, and scored eight touchdowns. Their defense added four turnovers to the mix.
Not every result went the expected way. Michigan stunned Oklahoma, and the Sooners never found much rhythm on offense.
John Mateer finished 17-for-33 for 189 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Oklahoma’s run game never got going either, with 29 carries producing only 100 yards.
Mateer accounted for 45 of those yards on 13 rushes.
Kentucky’s first SEC game of the year did not go the way the Wildcats wanted. Alabama beat them 45-17, even though Kentucky forced three turnovers.
The problem was that the Wildcats gave it right back three times, with two fumbles and an interception. Kenny Minchey threw for 146 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and Kentucky managed just 63 rushing yards on 32 attempts.
Vanderbilt had to recover from an uneven first half against Delaware. The Commodores trailed 17-14 after Delaware erased an early 14-0 deficit with 17 straight points. Vanderbilt answered with 21 points in the third quarter to pull away enough to finish the job, though Delaware did score nine more in the fourth to keep it from getting comfortable.
Florida State had the week off after a rough home loss to SMU, but the Seminoles are headed right back into the fire. They travel to Tuscaloosa this weekend to face Alabama. The last time those teams met in the 2025 season, Florida State pulled the upset in Tallahassee, 31-17.
In Other News...
Florida Walks Into A Familiar Auburn Test With More At Stake
Jon Sumrall and Alex Golesh know plenty about each other long before they meet on opposite sidelines in an SEC game, which gives Floridas trip to Auburn a little extra texture. Their coaching paths have crossed through the years, and the matchup brings back familiar names, familiar schemes and a fresh layer of stakes for a Florida staff trying to make its mark in league play.
Auburn also turns the page at quarterback, with Brown set to make his first SEC start after transferring from USF. Sumrall said Brown has shown clear improvement, and he knows the challenge does not stop there, especially with Auburns home-field edge waiting in the background. For Florida, it is the kind of conference test that can expose details quickly, and the kind of game where the familiar can still get uncomfortable in a hurry. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Heads To Auburn With One Roster-Building Bet Under Pressure
The trip to Auburn brings more than a conference road test for Florida, because it also puts the Gators roster-building approach next to one of the sports more aggressive transfer pipelines. Jon Sumrall brought only a handful of players with him from Tulane, leaving Florida with a roster shaped mostly by Power Four talent, while Auburn under Alex Golesh has leaned much more heavily on familiar faces from USF, including 13 former Bulls who have already carved out meaningful roles.
That contrast is part of what makes this matchup worth watching for Florida fans. Auburns offense features several players who came from non-Power Four programs, and Goleshs history against Power Four defenses has not always been easy reading, which leaves this game feeling like a stress test for both coaches ideas about how to build a team. For Florida, it is a chance to see whether a more traditional talent base holds up when the other side is built from a different kind of bet. [Read more 🡒]
Florida Is Spending Big But The SEC Problem Is Still Clear
The money flowing through Floridas football roster has become impossible to ignore. A recent Athletic data analysis estimated the Gators are spending between $31 million and $41 million on NIL deals, a total that lands them 15th nationally and seventh in the SEC. In a sport where roster building now runs as much through collectives and deal-making as it does through recruiting rankings, that puts Florida in a familiar middle ground among Power Four programs, even if the scale of the investment is still striking.
Ohio State is believed to be the nations biggest spender, and Floridas figure mostly confirms what has long been suspected around the program: the Gators are paying at a level that keeps them in the race, but not necessarily at the front of it. The school hopes to push that number higher through facility renovations, a reminder that in the SEC, keeping up is one challenge and actually separating from the pack is another entirely. [Read more 🡒]